So Proud, Little Badgermole
by Captain StillNotGinger
Summary: Lin doesn't regret sacrificing herself for the airbenders in the slightest. Memories with her mother give her strength. Toph/Lin. Oneshot.


She looked back as the last airbenders sat atop their bison, fear and sorrow in each of their faces. She felt the tug of the metal wire she had wrapped around the net that had just tried to capture them all only a moment ago. Right away she knew that is was her duty to protect them, no matter the cost.

"Whatever happens to me, don't turn back," Tenzin's responding words, "Lin, what are you doing!" were barely audible as she leapt off the back of the bison, not waiting for the decision to be discussed. The very moment her feet left the seeming safety of the bison she knew that if she returned, it would be without her bending. The family wasn't hers, not really, but she felt a deep need to protect it as if it were. They were the last airbenders and no one was going to extinguish the last hope for them. Not on her watch.

She landed on the airship in a dive role and immediately went to pulling off a large piece of the top. She knew the reality of the mission, _destroy as much as possible before they take you down, _she kept telling herself. With a boost she leapt from the now nosediving airship to the next. Just as she tried to take the other down she felt ropes bind her arms to her sides, her legs following suit. Electricity surged through her body and was worsened by her metal armor. She was losing consciousness, but she knew that she had done her duty. They were safe.

*****

The rain came down in the night and there was a chill in the air beyond that of just the weather. It lingered, danced around her, making her very bones ache. She looked down at her bound hands then up at the masked figure that was towering over her.

"Tell me where the Avatar is and I'll let you keep your bending." she knew right away that the proposal was fake, just a ploy to get her to talk. He had no intent at letting her keep her bending and she knew it. She was the former esteemed chief of police of the city and it needed their leader now more than ever. A force was nothing without a leader.

"I won't tell you anything, you monster!" she spat at him, venom in each word.

"Very well," he walked around her, but she didn't watch. Now more than ever she wished he would take off his mask, show the world who he was, and allow her to glare into his face as he stripped her of the last connection to her mother. She closed her eyes, feeling the deep vibrations in the earth for the last time, the response she got, how it spoke to her. She felt his thumb on her forehead and then, she felt nothing. She fell forward, her cheek hitting the wet earth. She listened, but the earth no longer spoke to her, no longer connected her with her mother. She felt naked lying there in the rain, the man standing over her, a smile of victory on his masked face. Bending was the way her mother interacted with the world and now it was severed, leaving her only with the memories she could remember.

*****

"_It's okay, my little badgermole," _she heard her mother's words echo in her ears, the sound of the rain fading away. She was at the home of her childhood, only maybe six or seven, her mother standing beside her whispering encouraging words to her as she tried to get the earth to do as she commanded.

"I can't do it, mommy!" she complained, crossing her arms and plopping onto the ground she had just failed to bend.

"Yes, you can, Lin. You just have to be patient," her mothers words were soft and reassuring. She felt hot tears come to her eyes but she held them back. Beifongs didn't cry, her mother had told her that time and time again.

"You are my daughter and there is nothing you can't do," Toph said, seeing her daughter on the verge of tears. "Alright, enough pouting out of you, get back up and try again." Lin reluctantly got back up, not wanting to fail her mother again. "Alright, now get in your horse stance," Lin did as she was told and tried to will the earth.

A rock flew up and nearly hit Toph who was too proud of her daughter to pay attention to where the rock was going.

"You did it!" Toph exclaimed, scooping Lin up and hugging her.

"I did it! I'm an earthbender!" Lin yelled. "I'm gonna be just like you, mommy!" she said joyfully.

*****

The scene changed and she was older now, twelve or thirteen, sitting beside her mother's bed. Something had happened, according to Aang, at the hearing and her mother was hurt. He had been certain to make sure Lin knew that she was going to be okay. She looked so broken lying in the bed and Lin had hardly left her mother's side, afraid she wouldn't wake up. Katara had been over a few times for healing sessions, trying to lessen the ghastly purple bruise on Toph's side.

When Aang came into the house carrying her a few days previous, she had only been able to mutter Lin's name before she lost consciousness. Aang had to keep coming to check and make sure Lin was eating and drinking. Lin would sit there all day and fall asleep at the side of the bed, fear stricken.

Toph's unseeing eyes fluttered open slowly and Lin froze, fearing she was merely imagining it. Toph felt a hand on hers and, swallowing a few times, tried to speak.

"Is that my little badgermole?" the question was only a weak whisper but it made Lin burst into tears. Toph let her daughter get her tears out and when she began to calm, she spoke, "Shhh, it's okay," Lin had missed her mother's comforting voice so much. It was incredible to Lin that Toph could go from her loving mother to the esteemed chief of police that no one dared mess with in an instant.

"I-was-so scared!" Lin tried to say between sobs. She laid her head across her mother's chest and hugged her, Toph's arms instantly wrapping around Lin's, trying to comfort her. "I-thought-you weren't gonna wake up," she let out another sob.

"I'm okay," Toph said into Lin's ear. "I will always be here for you."

*****

She was sitting next to her mother now, a new memory forming. Two paths of tears streaked either side of her dirt and blood covered face as Toph tried to comfort her out of the initial shock.

"Here comes Katara," Toph announced quietly. Katara walked in a few seconds later with a twinge of worry on her face and began a healing session, trying to make the two marks on Lin's face go away as much as she could manage.

"It will scar," Katara whispered after a moment but Toph ignored her.

"Mom," Lin choked as she processed what Katara had said.

"It's okay, Lin, you still look beautiful," Normally Lin shrugged off her mother's blind jokes but she knew that even though she couldn't see, Toph truly meant it and the scars weren't something to be ashamed of. She found comfort in it and she hugged her mother tightly as Katara tried to make the scar as small as she could.

*****

The scene changed again and she stood in front of the metalbending police, proudly accepting the very chief badge her mother had worn. It was with a heavy heart to accept it, but she knew her mother was proud that she could be her successor. She could hear Toph's words in her ear, as if she was watching over the scene.

"I'm so proud of you,"

*****

She was back lying in the rain, only a moment had passed. She could still hear the reassuring words in her head, what her mother would say if she could see her now.

_"Get up, my little badgermole, this fight isn't done." _Without a second thought Lin pushed herself up slowly, staggering to her feet, feeling weak but suddenly strengthened by the encouragement the memories had. She looked into the eyes behind the mask, pure hatred reflected in her own. She took a drastic turn and made a break for it, fighting off any who dared challenge her even without her bending. He could take her connection to the earth, but he couldn't take her dedication to the city, the city her mother helped build. She had just narrowly escaped and when she was out of danger of being captured again, she kneeled down onto the wet ground, feeling the sorrow of her loss, but also the strength of knowing that she was strong even without it. Her mother's soft words echoed in her ears like a mantra of the loss.

_"I'm so proud of you, my little badgermole," _


End file.
